well, i’ve been on a serious diet of craft lite this summer. all the gardening and beaching leaves no time for projects! but with these past few days of cooler weather, i’ve managed to get back into the swing of things. here are some of the things i dove into:

the kids and i filled clam shells from our trip to the north shore with soy wax. our plan is to fill all sorts of vessels with wax so we have an enire winter’s worth of candles to burn! wyatt wants to give some away, and, if i’m feeling really brave (or crazy), i think we’ll try dipping our own candles this year…

with my mother’s helper by my side (and the garden weeding/harvest/canning up to date), i whipped up two dresses and a winter nightie for myself. i didn’t want to “waste” time tracing patterns, so i just eyeballed the pictures in my two favorite dress books, and went to town with my scissors. i may take the fish dress in a couple of inches in the side seams, but overall i am so pleased with the results!

after measuring the size and gague of cris’s favorite sweater (he named it “wooly”), i prepared to make him a skull sweater like izzy’s from last year. but, he doesn’t love the green yarn i bought. so guess what?! another sweater for me! i want to make a long cardigan with some colorwork inspired by the natives of canada….

i wound a skein of each color to start my swatching and get going on the sweater…

i did finish weaving in the ends on sweaters for the kids. more pics of those to come after i get the buttons sewn on for belle’s. i was so inspired by this idea, it was my original goal. that’s why i wanted to start cris’s sweater right away. but now i’ll just have to redefine my goals: a sweater and a set of pj’s for the kids. and hopefully a robe too!

one other project that we’ve had fun with this past week: kool aid dyeing! i divided a super large skein of undyed merino/silk yarn for the kids and they each colored their own. they just finished drying and i wound them into little balls…they are so cute! i want to knit them each a pair of wristwarmers with their special yarn. an added perk? the yarn smells “fruity” (as much as kool aid can)!

i think the burst of cool air really helped us kick the craft lite diet. full-fat-craft, here we come!